A New Tradition
by snarkysweetness
Summary: The Booth family has set down firm traditions that Neal must now uphold.


**Title: **A New Tradition  
**Author:** snarkysweetness  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Characters:** August, Neal, BB Booth, Henry, Emma, & Ruby; Emma/August & Ruby/Neal if you squint  
**Summary:** The Booth family has set down firm traditions that Neal must now uphold.  
**Warnings:** Will cause tears. Triggers: child death.  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.  
**Author's Notes: **I'm really sorry, I am, but the idea came and it's Halloween and I had to do it. I promise to make it up to all of you (but really, if I start something with a flashback, you know what you're in for).

"_And what are you supposed to be?"_

"_I'm daddy!" Emmie announced happily as she put both fits on her hips proudly. Neal did his best not to laugh at her get-up; Pinocchio. August groaned and dumped another bag of candy into a bowl._

"_Emma! You told me she was going to be a princess!" He called up the stairs._

"_Daddy, I'm a princess every day," she informed him haughtily. August smiled and leaned down to kiss the top of her head._

"_Of course you are, baby girl."_

"_You like my costume, right daddy?" She asked with a small pout._

_Neal could see the pain on August's face. He hated when Emma used the kids to taunt him about his old life and he didn't want to lie to her mini-me but he also didn't want to hurt her feelings._

"_Of course I do, baby. I just wish your mother would be more creative is all."_

"_Next time I'll get Granny to make her something authentic," Emma warned as she came into the room wearing a witch's hat. _

"_Next time? You are not pulling this on me three years in a row."_

"_But it's tradition, babe," Emma teased._

_August kissed the top of her head with a roll of his eyes._

"_Don't listen to her, son, I won't let you wear that ridiculous outfit," August assured as he rubbed Emma's very large belly. _

"_Oh, he's going to."_

"_What are you wearing? That's the least creative thing I've seen."_

"_I'm fat and pregnant, do not piss me off," Emma warned as August leaned in to kiss her._

_Neal turned away and busied himself moving the candy bowls to the table near the door. He'd made peace with losing Emma around the time she'd gotten pregnant with Emmeline, when he realized he really wasn't getting her back, but it didn't stop the jealousy he felt from time to time. He'd never had a real shot with her, not really, but watching his best friend have the life he'd always wanted was hard to swallow, especially since Regina…_

_Maybe it was a good thing Emma had run the other way when she'd had the chance. Every woman he'd ever loved had been killed because of Pan: Morraine, Wendy, and Regina. The only woman he loved that Pan hadn't killed was his mother and he had his father to thank for that one. _

_Yeah, Emma definitely had dodged a bullet there._

"_Uncle Neal?"_

_He turned to find the world's most adorably precocious six-year-old staring up at him while batting her big blue eyes._

"_How come Henry isn't coming with us?"_

_Neal looked around awkwardly, not wanting to have this conversation. Emma and August had disappeared, which meant they were making out in the kitchen. He frowned and cursed them both. He wasn't going to go in there, he knew better after the Gomez/Morticia Halloween incident when he'd caught them making Emmeline._

_He knelt down and took her hand with a small smile._

"_Henry's still really sad, sweetie."_

"_Because he misses Auntie Regina?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Are you sad, too?"_

"_Sometimes," he admitted._

_She stuck out her bottom lip and threw her small body against his. Neal hugged her back while she clung to his neck. This was not how he pictured spending his Halloween: brought to tears because of a child._

"_I love you, Uncle Neal."_

"_I love you, too, kid."_

"_Look, Emma, Neal's so horrified by her costume he's crying. Make her change."_

"_I'm not changing, daddy!" She huffed as she pulled away. She pouted and then ran to collect her bucket._

"_I'll leave you two alone for a moment," Emma said warily as she led the baby towards the door. "And remember, do not take Emmie near the docks, I don't care what Aurora wants, no candy from pirates. She can go to the diner with Ruby if she wants to see her. And when you get back, you two are on candy duty. Someone needs to get your son out of his slump." She directed that at the both of them. They were Henry's dads and they're united front to let Henry be depressed for a while did not meet her approval. _

"_My name is Amelia, mommy!" The baby announced. Emma looked down with a raised eyebrow and crossed her arms._

"_Excuse me?"_

"_I'm a big girl, now, mommy! And mommy's name is Emma and I don't want to be like mommy, I want to be a big girl with my own name," she declared. A smiled tugged at the corner of Emma's lips as she tried not to laugh._

"_Well, sweetie, that's why we gave you two names so you could pick when you were older-" August began._

"_I'm older," she replied stubbornly._

"_Well, then, Amelia Booth, would you like to go outside and help mommy light the jack-o-lanterns while daddy and Uncle Neal talk?"_

"_Okay!"_

"_She is cute," Neal said as he watched them go._

"_The cutest."_

"_Only because she kind of looks like me, don't you think."_

"_That joke isn't funny anymore, if Emma hears you say that she might kill you," August warned. That joke had never been funny but it didn't stop Neal from making it every now and then. _

"_So…are you…you know…"_

"_I'm fine; I think I was just allergic to that bullshit costume. You know, the cheaply made dime store fabric. Or maybe I'm allergic to puppets."_

"_Right." August led him outside and they watched for a moment while Emma lit the lanterns. "But really, I mean…look, Regina wasn't my favorite person, but she was starting to grow on-"_

"_I'm fine," Neal insisted. "Now, come on, we need to take my secret daughter trick-or-treating."_

"_I heard that," Emma warned._

_August snorted and took Amelia's hand._

"_Come on, baby, before your mommy kills Uncle Neal and we have to find you a new godfather."_

"_You know I love you," Neal teased as he walked by Emma, making sure to stay a full arm's length away from her. _

_She rolled her eyes and moved back towards the house._

"_Make sure no one gives my child poisoned candy."_

"_Make sure you leave some candy for the other children."_

_Emma flipped him the bird. Neal chuckled and caught up with the others. _

"_So, shall we head to the docks first?"_

While it may have only been one-year ago today, that Halloween seemed like it had been lifetimes ago.

"Hey, what are you doing? You were supposed to be dressed up by the time I got home! We have candy to get, kid."

"Halloween is stupid." That hit him like an arrow to the heart. He was used to this from Henry the petulant teenager but not his princess.

"Emmie…"

She turned to him and shot him a death glare.

"Amelia," he tried again. She'd gone back to her nickname for a short time, to be closer to Emma, but now that she'd decided she was angry with her parents she wanted to hear nothing about them.

As if the past few months hadn't been hard enough, his seven-year-old goddaughter had become an angry teenager overnight and Henry…

"Come on, get dressed! It's Halloween; we got to get to it!"

Henry entered the room in the most ridiculous get-up Neal had ever seen; a twenty-year-old 'man' dressed up in a handmade Pinocchio costume.

"Son, what are you-"

"Ta-da!"

Ruby emerged from the kitchen holding a homemade princess costume. It was a miniature version of something Neal had once seen Emma wear on a year Henry had convinced her to 'embrace her title'. Neal met Ruby's eyes and he could see she was worried but she was hiding it well. He tried not to frown, fearing this would blow-up in her face. Ruby tried hard, harder than he did sometimes, to embrace her new role as parent and he didn't want to see her get hurt.

They'd been forced to become closer than ever and he was too fond of her to see her heart broken.

Amelia jumped off of the couch and stormed towards the stairs. Neal wasn't going to let her lock herself in her room to be angry for the rest of the night. He'd let Henry do that for too long after Regina's death and as much as he hated to admit it now Emma had been right in insisting they force him to deal with it. Neal pulled her into his arms and though she fought him, he was stronger.

"Let go of me! I HATE HALLOWEEN AND I AM NOT DRESSING UP IT IS STUPID AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" He voice broke and he knew if he looked he would find her crying.

"It's tradition-"

"IT'S A STUPID TRADITION!"

"Mom and dad would want you to-"

"MOM AND DAD ARE DEAD HENRY!" Amelia pulled away from Neal violently and started sobbing. Ruby choked back her own sob and composed herself before kneeling in front of her.

"Sweetie-"

"Don't touch me. This is stupid! Henry's costume is stupid! This is all stupid! The way mom and dad went crazy for it was stupid!" She crossed her arms and sniffled before crying some more. "Baby Marco was supposed to be Pinocchio. It was Henry and then me and then he was supposed to…" she sobbed and this time let Ruby hold her.

"I just want them back!"

Henry surprised Neal by sitting next to her and taking her hand instead of storming off to his room.

"We all do, but they're gone and you have to stop hating them for it. They didn't choose to leave us, Amelia. You can't blame them for something they had no control over."

"Dad didn't have to-"

"What? Most of my childhood was spent being cursed, one after the other and at war because of people I loved and later people like Pan. Our parents are the reason there's still a town, why we all survived. Mom was the savior and dad wasn't going to let this town go to war without making sure he tried to protect us. And he would have died anyway, Amelia. If he hadn't been killed in the battle, he would have been home with mom when Pan came to kill her."

"He could have protected her," Amelia hissed.

Henry sighed.

"Maybe or maybe she would have suffered because she'd have been awake and not have cried herself to sleep that night. We all die, Amelia, and we all have a time when we're meant to die. There's no escaping our fates, I'm just glad you weren't with her that night. I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you too."

Amelia let Henry pull her into his arms and she began sobbing uncontrollably.

"What do I-"

"Come on, leave them," Neal whispered as he helped Ruby off the floor and led her to the kitchen.

It had happened quickly; Pan and his evil band of lost boys had managed to find their way to Storybrooke. They'd long ago been banished back to Neverland, after the new curse, but they'd grown older and stronger and even more evil in their absence. Emma had never stood a chance; she'd renounced her powers, fearing they'd turn her evil the way Regina's had turned her. She'd never learned to use them and they were useless to her when she truly needed them. And being as pregnant as she'd been…well…it wasn't as if she could wield a sword.

Pan had been hell-bent on making sure she died and Neal doubted anything could have prevented her death. August's had been a surprise though Neal knew August would not be able to live in a world without Emma, it was probably best that he'd never had to endure that pain.

Neal had barely begun to get into his role as father with Henry and he was an adult, now he had a tiny, angry version of Emma to deal with. He had no clue what he was doing to begin with but trying to handle getting her through losing her parents and a brother she'd never gotten to meet?

If it wasn't for Ruby he'd have given up and ran a long time ago. He loved Amelia and Henry but he was terrified every moment of ever y day. Ruby moving into Emma and August's house with him to help raise their goddaughter was the best thing to happen to him since his world had fallen apart.

"They're going to be okay, right?" Ruby asked as she pulled a bottle of scotch down from a high shelf. Neal wasn't big on drinking with the kids in the house, especially since he felt like he needed one every day, but he'd make an exception tonight.

"Probably not," he admitted. He wasn't okay most days, how were they going to be? He took a glass from Ruby and toasted to his dead friends and lover before downing the entire glass.

"Are we going to screw her up? I mean, I knew when I agreed to be her godmother they could die someday and I could be the one who had to raise her but I never thought it would really happen. I have no idea how to be a mother."

"I have a twenty-year-old son and I don't know how to be a father, so if either of us screws her up, it will be me."

Ruby wiped at her eyes and took a drink.

"I was Emma's too, you know? I mean…I was supposed to be. We never got a chance to make it official. I just…everyone I love is gone. Snow, Emma, Granny…I just want to make sure I do them proud. I'd like her to be the one thing I life I do right."

Neal reached over and squeezed her hand. She glanced up with tears in her eyes and he felt…he wasn't sure what he felt, but he wanted to do whatever it took to make sure he never saw that look cross her face again; she was too beautiful to ever be in that much pain.

"I think you already are," he whispered. "You're the only reason I've survived this for so long. I couldn't do this without you."

Ruby gave him a sad smile. He opened his mouth to speak but he felt a presence behind them. He turned to find Amelia in her dress and her pink pumpkin bucket.

"I only want to go to Aunt 'Rora and Uncle Killian's boat this year and then I want to go leave candy for mom, dad, and the others." There were too many to name: Granny, Geppetto, Archie…so many good people, gone. The only one who would still be around was his jerk-ass step-father and his bastard father, but Neal would die before he ever let Rumpelstiltskin near his children.

"All right, let's get to it, then. Ruby?" Neal held out his hand. He was sure they'd need to polish off that scotch later while he let her cry and they'd have to repeat that many times over the course of their lives, but for the next few hours they could keep pretending to be real parents.

Ruby downed her drink and took his hand before giving him a smile.

"What the hell? Let's start a new tradition."


End file.
